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Inside the NBA
In dealing for Elton Brand, the Clippers showed there are two smart teams in L.A. By Ian Thomsen
Brand couldn't join his new teammates at the Los Angeles Summer Pro League last week (he was running a charity event in his hometown of Peekskill, N.Y.), but it's not hard to count the ways he can help a team that finished 31-51 last season. For starters, Brand will improve the Clippers' rebounding. That will allow Los Angeles to run more in transition -- a dangerous counter to the zone defenses that will be implemented next season. "People don't know this, because he played in that triangle system in Chicago," says Gentry, "but Elton can flat-out run and finish on the break." In his first two seasons Brand, the top pick in the 1999 draft, averaged 20.1 points and 10.0 rebounds as Chicago's only inside threat. The Clippers hope his presence will help center Michael Olowokandi, the No. 1 choice in '98, turn the corner. The double teams that Brand is sure to draw should create open looks and offensive rebound opportunities for Olowokandi, who has averaged 9.1 points and 7.4 rebounds in his first three seasons. Brand should also create more space for Odom, a forward, and 19-year-old swingman Darius Miles, whose jump shot showed signs of improvement in the summer league. While the Clippers were being applauded for getting Brand (whose salary for the coming year is $3.9 million, a relative bargain), some around the league were accusing Bulls general manager Jerry Krause of buying time for himself. The Bulls have averaged a paltry 17 wins over the last three years, and with his strategy of signing marquee free agents an utter failure -- he didn't get a single one -- Krause was turning to a new game plan. He can now plead for patience from Chicago fans after getting high schoolers Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry with the No. 2 and No. 4 choices, respectively. In Chandler and Curry, Krause has two of the most coveted players from the most promising high school class ever to jump to the NBA. Krause predicts that the 7-foot Chandler will become a power forward with small-forward skills, like the Trail Blazers' Rasheed Wallace. He sees the 6'11" Curry, blessed with soft hands and quick feet, as an inside force. Most promising of all is that Krause acquired two highly talented big men at a time when size has become the league's scarcest commodity. "It's an intriguing move for the Bulls," says former Lakers executive vice president Jerry West, who escalated the demand for high school talent by drafting Kobe Bryant five years ago. "If they can play, the Bulls will have two big guys who everybody will be trying to match up against." Issue date: July 23, 2001
For more Inside the NBA see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, July 18. Click here to subscribe to SI.
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